The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
In general, a turbocharger is a supercharging device which increases intake air charging efficiency and increases engine power by compressing intake air supplied to the engine using expulsive power of exhaust gas and supplying the compressed gas to a cylinder.
The turbocharger has a typical structure that includes a compressor and a turbine, which are disposed on the same axis. The turbocharger compresses air introduced through an intake manifold to supply the compressed air to the cylinder by rotating the turbine using expulsive power of exhaust gas discharged through an exhaust pipe and rotating the compressor disposed on the same axis as the turbine.
Meanwhile, the air compressed by the turbocharger has a high temperature. Accordingly, when the compressed air is supplied to a combustion chamber as it is, the rate of increase in air density is reduced, thereby causing deterioration of charging efficiency or knocking. Thus, an intercooler is provided in order to lower the temperature of supercharged air. FIG. 1 is a view for explaining a conventional intercooler. Referring to FIG. 1, intake air cooled while passing through the intercooler has a high density and a low temperature, and thus combustion performance is improved.
Intercoolers are typically classified into an air-cooled intercooler and a water-cooled intercooler according to cooling methods. The air-cooled intercooler is a device which is cooled by cold air passing through cooling pins formed integrally with a plurality of tubes while supercharged air passes through the tubes. On the other hand, the water-cooled intercooler is a device which is cooled by water and has a cooling passage coming into contact with a plurality of tubes.